The use of computer-aided manipulating of electronic models that correspond to physical objects has become more prevalent as the capabilities of computer processing systems has increased. This manipulation began with the modeling and representing of a single physical object. In some cases, a physical object has been scanned to generate an electronic model corresponding to the physical object. Once a single physical object has been modeled, the development of these systems moved to the generation of electronic models for multiple objects that are physically related. These systems attempt to permit a user to manipulate these multiple objects in a manner that corresponds to the manner in which the physical objects interact with each other in the physical world.
One such application of this electronic modeling technology is in the dental field in which electronic models are generated that correspond to physical models made from impressions of teeth in a human mouth. These physical models for patient's teeth have been used by dentists and other dental health professionals to study the interaction of the opposing jaws before, during, and after treatment plan is implemented. Examples of uses of these electronic models within the dental field included: U.S. Provisional Patent Application entitled: “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR COMPUTER GENERATION OF ELECTRONIC MODEL IMAGES”, Ser. No. 60/351,270, filed Jan. 22, 2002, now U.S. application entitled, “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR COMPUTER GENERATION OF ELECTRONIC MODEL IMAGES”, Ser. No. 10/350,302, filed Jan. 22, 2003; U.S. patent application entitled, “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ELECTRONIC DELIVERY OF DENTAL IMAGES”, Ser. No. 09/846,037, filed Apr. 29, 2001; U.S. patent application entitled, “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONSTRUCTING CROWNS, BRIDGES AND IMPLANTS FOR DENTAL USE”, Ser. No. 10/429,288, filed May 2, 2003; U.S. Provisional Patent Application entitled, “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ELECTRONICALLY SIMULATING JAW FUNCTION”, Ser. No. 60/376,111, filed Apr. 29, 2002, now U.S. patent application entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ELECTRONICALLY SIMULATING JAW FUNCTION”, Ser. No. 10/426,253, filed Apr. 29, 2003; U.S. Provisional Patent Application entitled, “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ELECTRONICALLY GENERATING A COLOR DENTAL OCCLUSION MAP WITHIN ELECTRONIC MODEL IMAGES”, Ser. No. 60/376,091, filed Apr. 29, 2002, now U.S. patent application entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ELECTRONICALLY GENERATING A COLOR DENTAL OCCLUSION MAP WITHIN ELECTRONIC MODEL IMAGES”, Ser. No. 10/426,252, filed Apr. 29, 2003; and U.S. patent application entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS USING A SCANNED IMAGE FOR AUTOMATICALLY PLACING BRACKET IN PRE-DETERMINED LOCATIONS”, Ser. No. 10/429,262, filed May 2, 2003, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application entitled, “METHOD AND APPARATUS USING A SCANNED IMAGE FOR MARKING BRACKET LOCATIONS”, Ser. No. 10/349,559, filed Jan. 22, 2003, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application entitled, “METHOD AND APPARATUS USING A SCANNED IMAGE FOR MARKING BRACKET LOCATIONS”, Ser. No. 60/351,311, filed Jan. 22, 2002. Additionally, these electronic models may be used as part of data processing of images in support of the development of these treatment plans. Examples include: U.S. Provisional Patent Application entitled, “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICALLY DETERMINING THE LOCATION OF INDIVIDUAL TEETH WITHIN ELECTRONIC MODEL IMAGES”, Ser. No. 60/351,271, filed Jan. 22, 2002, now U.S. patent application entitled, “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICALLY DETERMINING THE LOCATION OF INDIVIDUAL TEETH WITHIN ELECTRONIC MODEL IMAGES”, Ser. No. 10/350,304, filed Jan. 22, 2003.
Within each of these applications, the scanning of the dental impression of a patient's mouth produces two separate electronic models that need to be integrated into a single frame of reference if the two models are to be used to interact with each other. This single frame of reference corresponds to a single coordinate system in which all known points in the two electronic models for the upper and lower jaws are specified in a single coordinate system. As such, a simple mechanism to determine common points in each of the two electronic model coordinate systems such that the translation of one coordinate system into the other coordinate system may be performed easily. In prior art systems, the two electronic models were separately generated after which a user would identify common points in the opposing model. Such a system is prone to error of a user in selecting the common points and as such is not readily repeatable. As such, there is a further need for a system and method to automatically determine a common coordinate system for the two electronic models for a patient's mouth when the two physical models are scanned. These and numerous other disadvantages of the prior art necessitate the need for the method and apparatus provided by the present invention.